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The record-shattering worldwide debuts of Baahubali: The Conclusion came as no surprise to Rana Daggubati, who plays Bhalladeva, one of Indian cinema’s most memorable villains, in SS Rajamouli’s historical action drama fantasy.

The South Indian star knew as soon as he and fellow cast members saw the working prints during the dubbing process that the sequel to the 2015 blockbuster Baahubali: The Beginning would be quite extraordinary.

The crux of the film is the battle for control of the Mahishmati kingdom between Bhalladeva and his cousin Amarendra Baahubali (Prabhas). The Queen Sivagami (Ramya Krishnan) wanted to crown Amarendra the King so Bhalladeva and his father Bijjaladeva (Nasser) conspire to overthrow Baahubali, using the loyal slave Kattappa (Sathyaraj) and Sivagami as pawns.

Asked whether he tried to humanize the fearsome Bhallladeva he said, “He is a reflection of many of these mythological characters who have a very specific agenda and an understanding of themselves. He is human in many ways because he is still a brother and a son. Nothing comes before his goals, which do not align with righteousness. He has a vision of who he is and he fights for it.”

Full of praise for the director, he said, “He is a reflection of John Woo or someone like that who tells stories in a large, large format. He is very clear about the story he wants to tell and the characters he has written. The only thing that the actors look for because the director is the first audience when you perform, is the amount of information and detail he gives. We feed off his understanding.”

Produced by Arka MediaWorks' Shobu Yarlagadda and Prasad Devinenie, Baahubali 2 amassed an unprecedented 521.98 crore ($78.4 million) in its first three days worldwide on 16,000 screens. The all-India release collected 303 crore ($45.5 million) net and 390.84 crore ($58.7 million) gross. Of that 209.50 crore ($32.6 million) came from the Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam versions and 180.6 crore ($28.1 million) from the Hindi version. The rest of the world generated 131.14 gross ($19.7 million).

Prabhas (L) and Rana Daggubati at the trailer launch of 'Baahubali 2'

Arka Mediaworks

On Monday the global haul reached an astounding 625 crore ($93.9 million) including 383 crore ($57.5 million) net in India, according to analyst Ramesh Bala, so it is fast closing in on the original’s lifetime total of 655 crore ($98.4 million).

In India takings on Tuesday rocketed to 440 crore ($66.1 million) net and 565 crore ($84.9 million) gross, Bala said. That means it took just five days for Rajamouli's juggernaut to overtake the lifetime total of Dangal and seize the crown of the biggest film ever in India.

Through Monday in the U.S. the film, which co-stars Anushka Shetty as the fiery princess Devasena, had raked in nearly $11 million for distributor Great India Films, beating the original's $9 million and closing in on Dangal's $12.4 million to become the highest-grossing Indian release of all time.

Daggubati and Prabhas spent a total of 250 days shooting both films over five years. Part 1 was more physically demanding for Rana as he did not have a body double, he did all his own stunts and suffered a broken wrist which required treatment in hospital

On Facebook this week he paid an emotional tribute to Prabhas, declaring, “He was the one who stood by this film rock solid for over 5 years at the peak of his career, unquestioned and with a smile....today he stands as the biggest pan-Indian superstar and deserves every bit of it."

After Baahubali 2 Daggubati starred in first-time writer-director Sankalp Reddy’s Hindi/Telugu war movieThe Ghazi Attack, which recounts a little-known chapter in Indian naval history. Launched in February, the saga of the mysterious sinking of a Pakistani submarine in 1971 during the Indian-Pakistan conflict got rave reviews and collected a decent 20.30 crore ($3 million) in India and $771,000 in the U.S.

“It’s a film that had never been made in this country,” said Rana, who played Lieutenant-Commander Arjun Varma, who was under orders to avoid provoking a war, leading to a clash with Kay Kay Menon as the hot-headed Captain Ranvijay Singh. “It’s awesome that we can make more and more movies that are crossing boundaries.”

He is set to collaborate again with Reddy in the romantic drama 1945, playing a soldier in pre-Independence India, co-starring Regina.